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"Tim Bascom will move up from AA to start tonight for Norfolk as Tillman will be skipped and possibly pitch Thursday for Orioles."

I am excited to see Tillman get back to the majors. Tillman hasn't produced numbers this good since 2009 for Norfolk (http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?pl ... P#advanced). This is including his early season struggles this year so he has been even better over his past 11 starts (more from Melewski on twitter: "If the Orioles do call Chris Tillman to start Thursday - has allowed 2 ER or less in 8 of last 11 games with 2.89 ERA in that time."). Rick Peterson seems to love him, Buck had good things to say about the way he came into spring training more prepared (physically and mentally) than in years past, and more recently (according to Melewski and Rock Kubatko) the O's have been pleased with his improved fastball command and other teams have inquired on his availability (not that that means too much though).

From last season Tillman had stretches of dominance later in the season as his fastball velocity increased to around 91-94. I'm certainly no scout but I recall him making Texiera look foolish on 3 pitches (2 swings and misses on a fastball and changeup) on one occasion in August although he did get lit up later in that start. Throughout the season even when he struggled it seemed like he was getting plenty of swings and misses on both his curveball and changeup when he located them well (which wasn't very often). If Tillman's velocity is back to a healthy level after having his delivery adjusted by Rick Peterson's biomechanical analysis, his fastball command has improved, and his ability to locate his offspeed pitches has improved then I think we will see a markedly different Chris Tillman on Thursday.

For Tillman to be effective he'll need to locate his fastball much better. His problem has always been the long ball and he got lucky with HRs last year. If he can do that and continue to show a plus curve and much improved changeup, I think we'll see some good things from him.

Jordan Tuwiner wrote:For Tillman to be effective he'll need to locate his fastball much better. His problem has always been the long ball and he got lucky with HRs last year. If he can do that and continue to show a plus curve and much improved changeup, I think we'll see some good things from him.

I like what I saw earlier this season when watching him.He's always gonna live up in the zone (as don has pointed out to me various times).But his 2S and change have been refined and he truly looked better.

TuckerBlair89 wrote:But his 2S and change have been refined and he truly looked better.

Tillman also needs to be more aggressive when he has two strikes on a batter. The nibbling at that point results in full count, center cut, fastballs that get crushed. It also costs him about 20 - 25 pitches an outing. I mean, for crying out loud, if your stuff is good enough to get the first two strikes then it's good enough to get the third one. If he ever figures that out he might be an effective ML SP; although I have my doubts he will ever trust his stuff enough.

TuckerBlair89 wrote:But his 2S and change have been refined and he truly looked better.

Tillman also needs to be more aggressive when he has two strikes on a batter. The nibbling at that point results in full count, center cut, fastballs that get crushed. It also costs him about 20 - 25 pitches an outing. I mean, for crying out loud, if your stuff is good enough to get the first two strikes then it's good enough to get the third one. If he ever figures that out he might be an effective ML SP; although I have my doubts he will ever trust his stuff enough.

That's a great point. Curve and changeup are both good enough to get swings and misses. We will see how he utilizes them on Wednesday.

Pretty impressive so far. Nice fastball even if it doesn't have a ton of movement it's got nice velocity and he's locating it well and jamming some folks. also seems to be getting some quick outs...not sure if the mariners are doing themselves in a bit or if that's Tillman's new approach but it's nice to see a low pitch count so far from him.